Failure analysis of the brass tubes in a lubricating oil cooler

S. Qu

, G. Yao, J.F. Tian, Z.F. Zhang

Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016, China
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 28 December 2010
Received in revised form 29 June 2011
Accepted 19 July 2011
Available online 6 August 2011
Keywords:
Lubricating oil cooler
Brass tubes
Pit
Dezincication
Stress corrosion cracking (SCC)
a b s t r a c t
Failure analysis was carried out on leaked brass tubes of a lubricating oil cooler. Direct evi-
dences of dezincication and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) were observed by scanning
electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopic (EDS) analysis. It is found
that there are many small pits distributed on the fracture surface and EDS analysis revealed
the occurrence of dezincication in the small pits. SCC was observed on the cross-sectional
plane of the fracture by SEM. Ammonia test has proved the existence of residual stress in
the as-received tubes. It is determined that the brass tubes have been suffered from the co-
action between dezincication and SCC.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
A lubricating oil cooler are usually used to cool the hydraulic liquid of a hydraulic power assistance system. The
cooler is shell and U-shaped tube type heat exchanger with hydraulic liquid on the shell side and seawater on the tube
side.
Leaks occurred at two U-shaped sections of cooling brass tubes in the lubricating oil cooler. The performed anal-
yses allow us to indicate the failure cause of the cooling tubes. The failed tubes were examined visually and by
scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray mapping, respectively. The results of these analyses are presented
in this study.
2. Visual observation and experimental procedure
One of the failed cooling brass tube is shown in Fig. 1, it is apparent that there is a transverse crack at the U-shaped
section of cooling brass tube and no evident corrosion phenomenon can be found on the outside of tube.
In order to nd out the corrosion extent along the thickness direction of the wall, the cracked tube was cut along the
direction perpendicular to the crack and the metallographic section plane of the fracture was obtained. SEM observations
were performed on the surface and the cross-sectional plane of the fracture to detect the failure mode. The results will
be shown in Sections 3.2 and 3.4, respectively. EDS analysis was made to identify the elemental composition of different
corrosion regions. Meanwhile, elemental X-ray mapping was made on the cross-sectional plane of the fracture to determine
the distribution of the elements Cu and Zn. In addition, ammonia test was performed to nd out whether or not there is
residual stress leading to the SCC.
1350-6307/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.engfailanal.2011.07.018

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 24 83978776.

E-mail address: squ@imr.ac.cn (S. Qu).
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3. Experimental results
3.1. Chemical composition analysis
The failed tubes were made of the arsenic brass. The chemical composition of the as-received brass tube was examined by
chemical analysis, and the results are shown in Table 1. In order to compare with the examined results, the standard values
of the arsenic brass are also listed in Table 1. It can be seen that the chemical compositions of as-received brass tube are quite
close to the standard values, indicating that the compositions are in consistent with the requirement.
3.2. SEM observations of fracture surface and the inner wall
Fig. 2a is a low-magnication image of the fracture surface. The outer and inner wall surfaces of the brass tube are indi-
cated by the black arrows 1 and 2. The part between the two arrows is the cracking path. It can be seen that there are some
small pits on the inner wall surface near the fracture surface as indicated by the white arrow. An ordinary shape of fracture is
shown in Fig. 2b and the partial enlarged view in mourning border of Fig. 2b is expressed in Fig. 2c. Both gures show that
there are a lot of pits on the fracture surface. Sometimes, larger-size pits can also be seen on the fracture surface as indicted
by the white arrows in Fig. 2d. The magnicated image of these larger pits is shown in Fig. 2e and the fracture surface is
crude with lots of smaller pits. It indicates that the larger pits have the same formation mechanisms as the whole fracture.
Moreover, some large-size pits can be seen on the inner wall surfaces adjacent to the cracking fracture (see Fig. 2f) and these
pits connect directly with the fracture. This fracture surface image is similar to the failure surface of a muntz tubesheet
which was induced by dezincication [1]. In addition, a number of grooves in pit-like forms can be seen on the etching sur-
face of the failure muntz tube sheet.
3.3. Energy spectrum analysis
In order to nd out the formation mechanisms of the pits above, different parts of the fracture surfaces were chosen to do
the energy spectrum analysis, and the results are shown in Fig. 3. A local enlarged image of fracture is shown in Fig. 3a. There
is a pit with diameter of about 200 lm which is denoted by number one on the fracture surface. Fig. 3b is the intensied
image of this pit and the EDS analysis curve in Fig. 3b
1
. The corresponding numerical results are expressed in Table 2. Both
the curves and the numerical results indicate that the content of zinc element is extremely scarce in all pits. It is reported
that dezincication occurred mostly on the grain boundary in muntz tube sheet [1]. Fig. 3c is the local enlarged image of the
fracture surface denoted by number two in Fig. 3a. Local area without pits is chosen to do the EDS analysis as indicated by
# in Fig. 3c. The EDS analysis curve of this area is shown in Fig. 3c
1
and the corresponding numerical results are expressed
in Table 2. Both the curve and the numerical results demonstrate that the chemical compositions of this area are basically in
accordance with the normal material composition. In other words, zinc element is not absent in this area.
Fig. 1. An example of a leaked tube (the leaked point as indicated by the white arrow).
Table 1
Chemical compositions of the as-received tube.
Chemical compositions
Cu Al As Fe Sb Bi Pb P Zn Impurity
Testing value (wt%)
76.9 2.06 0.04 0.031 <0.02 <0.02 <0.02 0.004 20.605 <0.3
The requirement of chemical compositions
76.0/79.0 1.8/2.3 0.03/0.06 60.06 60.05 60.002 60.05 60.02 18.2/21.7 60.3
S. Qu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 18 (2011) 22322239 2233
The results above indicate that the formation of those pits would be attributed to the dezincication because the chemical
compositions of the fracture area with pits are zinc deciency. On the other hand, the chemical compositions of the fracture
areas without pits are in accordance with normal compositions of the brass tube. Therefore, this gives rise to an open ques-
tion: how and why did the dezincication occur in the local areas of the brass tube?
3.4. SEM observation of metallographic section plane of fracture
Fig. 4a is a local enlarged image of the metallographic section plan of fracture. The intersecting line between fracture sur-
face and section plan of fracture is indicated by arrow one. However, the intersecting line between inner wall of tube and
section plan of fracture is denoted by arrow two. The letters A and B indicate mounting material. It can be seen that
lots of small pits distributed at the region as denoted by the white arrow in Fig. 4a and 4b is a backscattered electron image
with the same region as Fig. 4a. It is clearly revealed that the delta region near the fracture was severely eroded with the pits
(white arrow). In addition, one linear vein can be observed to extend from the delta region as indicated by the black arrow.
Fig. 2. SEM observation of fracture surface: (a) low-magnication observation; (b) fracture morphology; (c) local enlarged image of Fig. 2b; (d) large pits on
the fracture surface; (e) morphology in the large pits; and (f) some large pits on inner wall connected with fracture.
2234 S. Qu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 18 (2011) 22322239
The linear vein in Fig. 4b is proved to be a crack as indicated by the white arrow in Fig. 4c after etched by the ferric-alcohol
reagent. Fig. 4d is a local enlarged image of the crack denoted by the white arrow in Fig. 4c. Some branches can be observed
on the lead crack (white arrows). This kind of crack corresponds to the character of the stress corrosion cracking [2].
3.5. Elemental X-ray mapping on the cross-sectional plane of the fracture
The distribution of two main elements (Cu and Zn) on the cross-sectional plane near the fracture by energy spectrum
analysis is shown in Fig. 5. As in Fig. 4b, Fig. 5a is a backscattered electron image of the cross-sectional plane near the
fracture. The fracture surface lies on the bottom of image. Evidently, two regions denoted by black arrows are dark because
there are lots of small pits in them. The distribution image of element Cu on the cross-sectional plane of the fracture is
Fig. 3. Energy dispersive spectroscopic (EDS) analysis result of small pits on the fracture surface; (a) two regions were chosen: a pit (point as indicated by
one) and matrix (point as signed by two; the enlarged image of point one (b) and corresponding EDS analysis curve (b
1
); the enlarged image of point
two (c) and corresponding EDS analysis curve (c
1
).
Table 2
Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis results on fracture surface.
Measured position Chemical composition (wt%)
Al Cu Zn
Fracture position 1 in Fig. 3a 0.28 99.22 0.50
Fracture position 2 in Fig. 3a 1.92 76.56 21.53
S. Qu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 18 (2011) 22322239 2235
shown in Fig. 5b. It is clearly shown that the distribution of element Cu corresponds totally with the whole surface of the
cross-sectional plane, which indicates that the distribution of element Cu on the cross-sectional plane is normal. Fig. 5c is
the distribution image of element Zn on the surface of the cross-sectional plane of the fracture. It is apparent that the dis-
tribution of element Zn only corresponds with the brighter part in Fig. 5a, but not with the whole cross-sectional plane. It is
indicated that the dark parts in Fig. 5a are the regions of zinc deciency because these areas are composed of many small pits
with less zinc content.
The EDS analysis curves of main elements (Cu, Zn and Al) on the dark and bright areas in Fig. 5a are shown in Fig. 6 and
the corresponding numerical results are listed in Table 3. Both of results indicate that the Zn content on the dark region in
Fig. 5a is far less than the average value of the matrix.
3.6. Ammonia test
In order to nd out the source of residual stress, a U-shape section of brass tube without cracks was used to do the ammo-
nia test at room temperature (2225 C) for 16 h with 25% ammonia solution. Fig. 7a is the piece of brass tube before ammo-
nia test. After ammonia test, some cracks can be clearly seen on the tube surface (see Fig. 7b). As a result, it can be proved
that there was residual stress in the brass tube, which supplied a condition to form the SCC.
4. Discussion
4.1. The relation between small pits and dezincication
Based on the observations above, the fracture morphologies mainly have two features, one is fragmentized and the other
is composed of many small pits. Moreover, there are some large pits with the size of up to hundred of microns on the inner
wall near the fracture. SEM observations show that the large pits are composed of lots of small pits and EDS analysis results
indicate that dezincication always occurred in the small pits. As a result, it can be determined that the corrosion of the
tubes basically resulted from the small pits and the pits were formed where dezincication had occurred. Thus, the SEM
observation provided direct evidence that the formation of pits should be attributed to dezincication.
Fig. 4. SEM observation of cross-sectional plane of the fracture: (a) region with pits on the cross-sectional plane of the fracture (white arrows); (b) back-
scattered image of Fig. 4a; (c) stress corrosion cracking on the cross-sectional plane of the fracture after eroded; and (d) an enlarged image of Fig. 4c.
2236 S. Qu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 18 (2011) 22322239
Dezincication is one of typical case for the selective leaching. There are numerous theories about the mechanisms of
selective leaching, but two predominant mechanisms prevail [2]. The rst mechanism states that two elements dissolve
in the alloy and then one re-deposits on the surface. The second mechanism emphasizes that one element selectively dis-
solves from the alloy, leaving the more noble elements in a porous mass. As dezincication of copper, two types of damages
can be characterized; one type of dezincication is uniform, and the second is plug-type. It is evident that the current dezin-
cication is not uniform and should be attributed to the latter. This kind of dezincication often leads to the formation of
large pits with the size of hundred of microns. With further service under the corrosion environment, it is easily understood
that the dezincication nally caused the corresponding failure in the brass material [1,3,4] and will be further discussed in
the following section.
4.2. The relation of leakage of copper tubes with SCC
The SEM observation results of the cross-sectional plane of the fracture and the ammonia test indicated that the crack is
one kind of SCC (see Figs. 4 and 7). Except for the well-known ammoniac solutions, the previous work [58] has shown that
copper and copper alloys are susceptible to the SCC in many industry environments which contain sulfate [5], nitrates [6],
Fig. 5. X-ray mapping of cross-sectional plane of the fracture showing dezincication: (a) back-scattered SEM microscopy image; (b) Cu X-ray mapping;
and (c) Zn X-ray mapping.
S. Qu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 18 (2011) 22322239 2237
Fig. 6. Corresponding EDS analysis curves of Fig. 5a; (a) the darker region of Fig. 5a, and (b) the brighter region of Fig. 5a.
Table 3
Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis results on the cross-sectional plane.
Measured position Chemical composition (wt%)
Al Cu Zn
Dark region in Fig. 5a 2.27 95.87 1.84
Bright region in Fig. 5a 0.93 77.78 21.29
Fig. 7. Ammonia test results (a) before test and (b) the cracks as signed by white arrow after test.
2238 S. Qu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 18 (2011) 22322239
and moist air containing either sulfur dioxide [7] or nitrogen oxides [8]. It is presumed that the sea water in the tube side can
lead to the SCC of the brass tubes. Therefore, whether the service environment or the state of these brass tubes supply con-
ditions for the formation of the SCC.
From the observation results above, the failure of the brass tube can be considered to undergo three processes. First, some
local pits were formed by the plug-type dezincication and became the stress concentration sources. Then, with the coac-
tions between the residual stress and aggressive medium of sea water in the brass tubes, the SCC was initiated from these
small pits. Last, once this kind of cracks penetrated the wall of brass tubes, leak event has occurred.
5. Conclusions
Based on the SEM observations and the analysis above, it can be concluded that the failure of the brass tubes is attributed
to the co-action between the small pits formed by dezincication and SCC. The SEM observation and EDS analysis give direct
evidences for the dezincication and SCC of brass tubes.
Acknowledgment
We highly appreciate for the nancial support to Materials Failure Analysis Center (MFAC) from Shenyang National
Laboratory for Materials Science (SYNL).
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